Explosion-engine.



E. P. RAYL.

EXPLOSION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.9. I9I3. 1,28%696. Patented Aug. 21, 191?.

Z SHEETS-SHEET I.

wi 2 I WITNESSES ATTORNEY E, P.- RAYL.

EXPLOSION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.9. 1913.

Patented Aug. 21, 1917.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

WITNESSES 1 r ATTORNEY -EVERETT P. RAYL, 0F GALION, OHIO.

EXPLOSION -E1\TGINE.

Specification of. Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 21, 191'7.

Application filed August 9, '1913. Serial No. 784,004.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Ewsnnrr P. RAYL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Galion, in the county of Crawford and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Explosion-Engine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to improvements in explosion engines, and its object is to provide an engine capable of acting in a manner combining both the four cycle and two cycle types.

In accordance with the present invention the engine cylinder, or each engine cylinder in a multi-cylinder engine,-is provided with two pistons reciprocating at opposite ends of the cylinder and arranged'so as to define an explosion chamber between them, a single valve structure or distributor serving for the introduction of the charge and the escape of the gases of combustion.

The improved engine includes a main power piston and an auxiliary power piston having different extents of movement and arranged so that they will act si1nultane ously upon the shaft during the power stroke to deliver the force of the explosion thereto. At the same time the charge is indrawn, compressed, exploded, and the gases of explosion scavenged in' a manner similar to an ordinary four cycle engine.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, with the further understanding that while the drawings show a practical form of the invention, the latter is not confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawings, but may be changed and modified so long as such changes and modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through the engine cylinder showing the pistons in elevation. 0

Fig. 2 is a section at right angles to the showing of Fig. 1.

Figs. 3 to 7 arev diagrams illustrating different phases of operation of the engine.

In the drawings 1 is a more or less. schematic and to a certain extent structural representation of the cylinder of an engine constructed in accordance with the present invention, and this cylinder is provided at opposite ends with crank cases 2 and 3, respectively, and extending through these crank cases are crank shafts 4 and 5, respectively, the shaft 4 representing a power shaft upon which may be mountedv fly wheels 6 and a pulley 7 or other means for transmitting power, while the crank shaft 5 represents an auxiliary crank shaft carrying a sprocket wheel 8 connected by a sprocket chain 9 to another sprocket wheel 10 on the main shaft 4 and in the particular arrangement of the showing of the drawings the sprocket wheel 10 is of half the diameter of the sprocket wheel 8, so that each rotation of the shaft 5 represents two rotations of the shaft 4.

The general showing of the engine is to an extent schematic for nearly all structural details are omitted as unnecessary for an understanding of the invention, and no attempt is made to show division lines of the cylinder and crank casings which would be necessary in a commercial embodiment of the invention to assemble the parts and no attempt has been made to show a water jacket or otherheat dissipating structures commonly employed in explosion engines, since these structures form no part of the present invention.

Mounted to reciprocate within the cylinder 1 is a main piston 11 connected by a pitman 12 to the crank shaft 4, and an auxiliary piston 13 connected by a pitman 14 to the crank shaft 5. The cranks of the crank shafts are shown as of respectively different radial extents, so that the stroke of the auxiliary piston 13 is quite materially less than the stroke of the main piston 11.

The cylinder 1 is provided near that end through which the auxiliary piston 3 reciprocates with a ort 15 leading into a casing 16 from opposlte sides of which ducts 17 and 18 extend. Within the casing 16 is a rotary member 19 having a passage 20 therethrough which may be brought into coincidence with the port 15 and either of the ducts 17 and 18 for a purpose which will hereinafter appear, and because of the function of the rotor 19 it may be termed generally a distributer. This rotor 19 is driven by a sprocket wheel 21 mounted on an axial stem 22 of the rotor outside of the casing 16 and engaged by the sprocket, chain 9.

Since it is desirable that the crank shaft 5 and rotor 19 move at the same rotatable within'the chamber 23 by the action of a spark plug 24 or any other suitable igniting means.

The chain connection 9 constrains the shafts 4 ai1d 5 to rotate in the same direction, but the shaft 4 makes two revolutions to one of the'shaft 5, and furthermore the arrangement is such that the shaft-4lags a few degrees with reference to the shaft 5 so that there may be no liability of dead center. Referring toFig; 3, the pitmen 12 and 14 are indicated while the circles 25 and 26 represent the relative paths of the cranks of the shafts 4 and 5, and the dotted lines 27 and 28 represent the respective paths of reciprocation of the main and auxiliary pistons.

In Figs. 4'to 7 the power cylinder and pistons are indicated, the same reference numerals as in Figs. 1 and 2, but foreconomy of space only a small portion of each piston is shown. Also the (i0 distributer'rotor and casing and other parts thereof are indicated by the same reference numerals as in Figs. 1 and 2.

In the position of the parts shown in Figs. 3' and 4- it is assumed that the power stroke is just completed and that the piston 11 is about. to start on the scavenging stroke, both crank shafts in the diagram of Fig. 3 being assumed to be rotating clockwise. Under these conditions the crank end of the 40 pitman 12 is at the six oclock position on the circle 25'and the crank end of the pitman 14 is but a short distance beyond-the nineoClock position on the circle .26, since the two crank shafts have a slight relative 45. displacement as before stated. In the posi- .tion shown in Fig. 4' the piston 13 has moved from the position 29 on the dotted line 28 to the position 30 due to the movement of the pitman 14 from about the 'six 50, oclock to about the nine oclock positions on the circle 26 and the piston is then so re lated to the port 15 as to cover the same, but the piston is now moving in a direction to uncover the port.

5 5 At the same time the distributer rotor 19 is moving to bring the passage 20 into coincide'nce with the port 15 and duct 18 constituting the exhaust duct. 1 w

. The crank shaft 4 has its crank of much larger radius than the crank of the shaft '5 and hence the range of movement of the piston 11 is correspondingly greater than the range of movement of the piston 13.

During the scavenging stroke the crank shaft 4 makes one-half .of a revolution and and are identified by -pos1t1ons are the same as the pitman moves from the position 31 on the dotted line 27 to the position 32 on the same dotted line, this representing a onehalf revolution of the crank shaft 4 and a full scavenging stroke of the piston 11. During this time the pitman 14 moves along the dottedline 28 from the position 30 to another position 33 representing a rotation of the crank shaft 5 with respect to the circle 26 from about the nine oclock position to about the twelve oclock position of the circle 26, the crank shaft 4 having moved from the six oclock position to the twelve oclo'ck position of the circle 25. At the completion T of the scavenging stroke the pistons 11 and 13- have the relative positions shown in Fig. 5 and the distributer 19 has turned sufficiently to just close the port 15.

As the crank shaft 4 continues to rotate it now' moves from the twelve oclock position through the three oclock position to the six oclock position, while the crank shaft 5 moves from about the twelve oclock position to about the three oclock position, thus bringing the pistons 11 and 13 to the relative positions shown in Fig. 6, which shown in Fig. 4

except that the piston 13 is moving in the opposite direction to the direction of movement indicated in Fig. 4. The distributer 19 has in the meantime so moved as to conmet the port 15 to the intake duct 17, so that after the completion of the scavenging stroke the pistons move so as to create a partial vacuum within the chamber 23, thus indrawing a charge.

N owthe crankshaft 4 again moves from the six to the twelve oclock positions, while the crank shaft 5 moves from about the three oclock to about the six oclock position, so that the piston 11 once more is brought into the same position it had in the showing of Fig. 5 and now indicated in Fig. 7, while the piston 13 has moved toward the piston 11 to a greater extent than before thereby 110. reducing the explosion chamber to its minimum size and correspondingly compressing the charge. In the meantime the distributer 19 has continued its rotative movement in a clockwise direction as v iewed in Figs. 4 to 7, thus holding the port 15 in the closed position, and this port is moreover, blanked by the piston 13 which is not only moved across the port but a corresponding distance beyond the same toward the piston 11. Now the chamber 23 between the pistons is reduced to its smallest capacity. and the' charge drawn in by the movement of the piston ll'from the position of Fig. 5 to that of Fig. 6 is greatly compressed, ,whereupon the charge is ignited by the operation of the spark plug'24 timed to then pass a spark or sparks and the ignition of the compressed charge causes the driving of the pistons 11 and 13 in opposite directions, thereby immenses to the shafts 4 the impulse imtransmitted by the power stroke during which the distributer 19 has moved to the position shown in Fig. 4, the momentum of the engine causes the piston 11 to move toward the piston 13 although the latter, which during the power stroke has completely blanked the port 15, has now only reached the position where it just begins to open the port 15, so that the movement of the'piston 11 toward the piston 13 results in scavenging the chamber 23, driving the burned gases out through the port 15 by way of the passage 20, then communicating with the port 15, and the duct18 then communicating with the passage 20.

The piston 13 acts in the same manner as the piston of a two cycle engine, piston 11 operates in the manner of a four cycle engine, and the distributer 19 serves to connect up the port 15 with either the fuel supply or the exhaust duct in timed relation to the engine cycles.

1n the drawings no attempt has been made to indicate any exact proportions, these being matters for the constructing engineer who may follow recognized explosion enine practice in such particulars.

While in the foregoing description a single cylinder engine has been considered, it will be understood that the same principles may be applied to a'multi-cylinder engine.

It will be understood that while a sprocket chain and wheels have been described in detail as the means of connecting the crank shafts and the distributor, any other connecting gearing may be employed to impart to the several parts the necessary relative rates of movement.

' What is claimed is z-- 1. An explosion engine provided with a cylinder having a single port constituting both the inlet and the exhaust port, a valve for the port forming both the inlet and exhaust valve, and two opposed pistons in the cylinder defining a combustion chamber between them, said' pistons having different rates of movement and ,dilferent lengths of stroke, with the piston of longer stroke the shaft 4, where-j while the timed with relation to the piston of shorter stroke to reach the extremities of its stroke after the other piston has reached like extremities of its own stroke, and the piston of shorter stroke having a range of travel to cover the port at one extremity of such travel.

2. An explosion engine provided with a cylinder having a single port constituting both the inlet and the exhaust port, a valve for the port forming both the inlet and exhaust valve, -and two opposed pistons in the cylinder defining a combustion chamber between them, said pistons having different rates of movement and different lengths of stroke, with the piston of longer stroke timed with relation to the piston of shorter stroke to reach the extremities of its stroke after the other piston has reached like extremities of its own stroke, and the piston of shorter stroke having a range of travel to cover the port at one extremity of such travel, the two pistons having connections for the simultaneous delivery of power with the piston of shorter stroke having half the rate of reciprocation of the piston of longer stroke.

3. An explosion engine provided with a cylinder having pistons at opposite ends connected together for the simultaneous delivery of power and defining a combustion chamber between them, one piston having a relatively long stroke and the other piston having a relativel short stroke and lower rate of reciprocatlon than the first-named piston, with the latter lagging for a small fractional portion of a revolution behind the piston of shorter stroke at the extremities of their strokes, and the cylinder being provided with a single port in position to be covered and uncovered by the piston of shorter stroke and constituting both the inlet and exhaust port of the cylinder, and a distributing member in operative relation to the port to place the latter in communication with a source of fuel supply and with the exhaust in timed relation to the movements of the pistons.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature 1n the presence of two witnesses.

EVERETT P. RAYL. Witnesses:

WM. S. THOMPSON, Lunnm RAIL. 

